My Moisture Lock Nightmare

Hello,


I love my bong. It is a Hoss A Y042 – A, I believe.


I purchased it in May and have been using it happily every day. A few months ago, my downstem all of a sudden refused to be pulled out anymore. I inspected the glass joints and realized that it was moisture lock. I tried many ways to ease it out, but unfortunately none of them worked, so I just decided to leave the downstem in there permanently as it wasn't bothering me too much. Of course, the choke hole was narrowed, but I dealt with it.


Anyhow, fast forward two months and it miraculously came out one day as I was pulling out the ash catcher. That was three days ago. Unfortunately, the moment I put it back in place, it instantly became stuck again, even though I kept the glass joints dry. I have been trying to get it out ever since. Yesterday, while trying to gently twist it out with the soft handles of a wrench, the top of the downstem snapped and shattered into pieces.




I have tried everything. I've let it sit in isoprophyl alcohol and salt for hours. I've tried shaking that mix all about inside it. I've tried holding a lighter under the stuck glass joints. I've tried pouring boiling water on the joints. I've let it sit in a bucket of boiling water. I've tried dish soap. I've tried WD-40. I've tried everything and it's not coming out. The top has broken off now to a point where there is no top anymore and I cannot even attempt to get a hold of it, let alone pull it out.


Today, I was trying to lower a string down the downstem, tied to a horizontal piece of coat hanger, with the hopes of dropping it down and yanking the downstem out, which didn't work. The string broke and the steel wiring I tried after that broke too. This fucking downstem was essentially permanently in there.




Even now that the downstem and bong are in pieces, there is a piece of the downstem that is still cemented to the outer joint. There was no way this part was going to detached from the outer joint. They had become fused together. The fact that they are still inseparable now attests to the fact that the downstem never would have come out. There are three pictures in the mix which show the piece of the downstem still stuck inside the female joint on the bong.


I am quite bothered by this. What am I supposed to do? It was an expensive bong and I really loved it.




CHECK OUT THE ATTACHED TRAGIC PICTURES...


Do you have any advice for me?


I've emailed Hoss twice, with no response yet...


Thanks,

Jewelers screwdriver and small hammer- ? Chip the thing out of there.

Diamond Drill bit that bitch ! Easy to obtain

Agree with professor, any drill bit for ceramic tiles.

Hindsight is 20/20... the diamond bit sounds like a good idea, or one for ceramic. Unfortunately, I did not do that and now the bong is broken.

I really hope Hoss cuts me a break and has good customer service, or I'll just get a different label next time.

Hoss is imported. So good luck with customer service. Get a different label next time. Like toro or möbius or mothership or Sheldon black.

I would say Mobius Toro or Sovereignty for sure, I have a Toro Micro for sale right now actually, but anyways I read online a little about HOSS CS, and from what I understand the way to get the best CS from HOSS is by phone, Good luck with everything and next time ask questions before taking actions man, could have easily saved a beautiful piece of glass!

Not trying to be a dick at all, but wouldn't you want to use cold water and not hot water? Hot makes stuff expand.... right?

BreezyBankz420 said:

I would say Mobius Toro or Sovereignty for sure, I have a Toro Micro for sale right now actually, but anyways I read online a little about HOSS CS, and from what I understand the way to get the best CS from HOSS is by phone, Good luck with everything and next time ask questions before taking actions man, could have easily saved a beautiful piece of glass!

Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks for that tip. I appreciate it.

VLRD.Kush said:

Not trying to be a dick at all, but wouldn't you want to use cold water and not hot water? Hot makes stuff expand.... right?

Click to expand...

Hey, yeah, it does. However, since the downstem was stuck in the joint, the downstem would also expand as I heated up the outer joint. I've read about jamming crushed ice down the downstem and pouring boiling water on the outside, but when I tried it, it didn't work.

A danger with using hot and cold water is that the bong could shatter from the rapid change in temperature.

Ahhhh you're right about the downstem expanding as well. Shit! Thought I was onto something.

Might just have to charge this one to the game... Perfect example why I put Vaseline on all my joint pieces. My friends hate, "eww man, that shits gross," but while they're fighting stuck slides, I'm getting stoned.

Hoss is a imported Chinese company that steals American glass workers designs and markets them for cheaper with no quality control.
Concider it doing yourself a favor.

VLRD.Kush said:

Ahhhh you're right about the downstem expanding as well. Shit! Thought I was onto something.

Might just have to charge this one to the game... Perfect example why I put Vaseline on all my joint pieces. My friends hate, "eww man, that shits gross," but while they're fighting stuck slides, I'm getting stoned.

Click to expand...

Whoa! Hold the phone. Does this Vaseline business actually work? Sounds promising...

dankshizzle said:

Hoss is a imported Chinese company that steals American glass workers designs and markets them for cheaper with no quality control.
Concider it doing yourself a favor.

Click to expand...

Hmm, interesting, very. Thank you for the tip. Do you have any other suggestions? I've gotten a couple in the thread earlier too, Mobius Toro or Sovereignty.

I've actually managed to hear back from someone at Hoss named "Tyler". That took a week. We'll see what happens, but I'm not crossing my fingers. If Hoss is of such a low quality as it seems to becoming evident, then I should just get something else, and try to avoid having moisture lock ruin it!

Thanks.

Yeah man. They make joint wax too, but I've never used/ seen it. I'm guessing it's the same thing as chapstick/ Vaseline. Vaseline is so cheap though, so why not use it? It washes right off too when I iso-alcohol clean my glass.

I just smear enough on to get all of the surface of the joint covered. Not a big glob at all, probably the same "layer thickness" as if you were putting it on your lips/ skin

VLRD.Kush said:

Yeah man. They make joint wax too, but I've never used/ seen it. I'm guessing it's the same thing as chapstick/ Vaseline. Vaseline is so cheap though, so why not use it? It washes right off too when I iso-alcohol clean my glass.

I just smear enough on to get all of the surface of the joint covered. Not a big glob at all, probably the same "layer thickness" as if you were putting it on your lips/ skin

Click to expand...

Fascinating! Absolutely. I'm going to go purchase a new bong today as Hoss doesn't seem too responsive to my replacement requests. I'll look for the wax and I'll definitely keep Vaseline in mind for costs and ease.

Thanks again.

Bees was is cheap also. At health food stores.

am i an idiot for using baby powder? my slide kept getting stuck so i powdered that bitch and it seems to work fine and it doesn't stick. the powder has cornstarch, zinc oxide, and kaolin. i have it to powder my gloves when i trim and it's always been really good at keeping shit dry. it doesn't last forever, but i clean my pieces every few days so it's no problem. the only downside i can see is perhaps i am making tiny abrasions with the powder that will haunt me later. i just couldn't take one more burned leg from hot chunks flying out of the bowl when i twisted it to loosen it.

i wouldn't want to use vaseline because i sometimes blow through the downstem to manually clear everything out because even a small amount of stale smoke will ruin the next hit and that would make my lips all gross. this practice is actually what led to my moisture problems in the first place. breath lock.

YO ! I have had the EXACT same problem with my friends hoss. That 29mm downstem just loves to get stuck.
Heres what we did. Cleaned the it very well, then sprayed wd 40 on both sides, a lot of it (wash it out later).
Then using a thin piece of rubber grip used to open jars, put that around the downstem. Put this in one of those clamp things you see in peoples basements. tightened very very carefully, then turned the bong until the downstem got loosened and finally got out. From then on, make sure to take the stem out after every use or lube with chapstick or vaseline.